Step forward, overhead slash.
Bend knees, thrust.
Left.
Right.
Deep breath, release and swing.
My hands dropped to my side, sword still clutched tight in my fingers.
[You need to eat.] Ddraig's, word breaking me from my fugue.
"How long was it this time?" I dropped down, getting comfortable on the ground and allowed my breathing to settle as I closed my eyes. I felt the cold air scrape across my face, it was hard to stay focused in such situation, but I had much practice at this point.
[About two days if my estimation is correct.]
This place, it make you lose track of time. No, maybe it was even more than that. It makes you lose your sense of 'self'.
How many days have I stayed back here, and just continued my practice? I think we were almost up to two months now. The day-night cycle was not the same outside, it almost seemed random, perhaps there was a 'order' that would reveal itself if I continued to pay attention for several more months, but at the moment it just seemed to change based on its own mood.
Not just that either, it seems as though the longer I spend in this realm, the more I change along to match its properties. My need to consume food had decreased exponentially, to the fact that I had to be reminded to eat after a couple days. That isn't even mentioning water, I havn't felt the need to drink anything.
What a strange place.
I swept my gaze around the area, hundreds of skeletal bodies littered my little haven. They hadn't stopped coming for me in these past weeks, though they only came from below. It seemed like besides that one weird guard, no other undead were above me.
"I think it's about time I moved on." I wasn't talking to anyone in particular, even Ddraig was silent. There wasn't much to pack up, I kept my food safe and secure, my blade had stayed with me this entire time and I only grab scraps from the things I've fought before.
Lets see if these past days have been good to me.
It didn't take long to meet my familiar friend once again. I had probed him a couple of times since our first meeting, just seeing what exactly he was.
Dropping my sack to the ground I took a step towards his position.
"RETURN" It bellowed, standing up.
Maybe the magics holding it together force it to say such a thing instead of being the only word it can actually speak?
I was much less nervous this time, my hands extremely steady as I continued to walk forward, matching its lumbering steps.
It swung its sword in the same way, a haphazard swing horizontally to cleave me in half, I merely took a step back, watching it miss. I think my previous thinking process was flawed, I continued to think of it in a manner of just brute forcing me way through this thing.
It recovered its swing, ready to cleave me in twain yet again, I stepped to the side, waiting.
The inevitable edge of the blade came towards me, I ducked down, allow it to pass safely over my head and impale itself onto the cliff-side.
I looked up, seeing the thing trying to pull free its massive blade to no avail.
"Well, that's one way to do it." I muttered, lifting my own weapon.
The undead's free hand tried to swing at me, but I deflected it much better this time, and I followed up with a swift stab through into the eye socket of its helmet.
The magics dispersed with a visible effect, the animated corpse falling to the ground.
"That was…much easier than I had built it up to be."
[You aren't exactly a beginner. Your issue was having a shallow foundation yet possess exceptionally powerful abilities.]
Yeah, that's true. If I had to describe it, I was perhaps an up-side-down pyramid. These past months have been me slowly added more bricks on the bottom to even it out, even just a little bit.
Well, lets keep going then.
I hesitantly put a foot on the brittle looking rock 'bridge' that allowed one to cross from one cliff side to another. Natural in formation, but it appeared as though it would break at any moment.
I guess it would be comical to die in such a mundane way instead of all the other nonsense going on here.
There was a cave up ahead, dark and eerie. Now, in a normal circumstance, I would have explored this, but the me right now was overly cautious. If that undead was guarding something it was most likely in here.
Not only that, I had a very bad feeling crawl up my spine even looking down that black hole.
Staying the hell away.
I just continued on a bit longer, only to visibly shudder when my clear path came to an end. The inlays that I hoped would take me to the top, stopped here. All that was facing me was the rocky side of the snowy cliff.
Well, fuck.
I resolved myself, finding a good spot, and I began truly climbing.
No turning back now.
The sharp stones were quick to tear into my hands, only a few dozen feet up and my skin had already been punctured. My blood seeping out made the stones all the more difficult to grab onto.
I could only wrap them in cloth to continue my ascent. The air was getting noticeably thinner with every few dozen feet I continued up and more strange phenomena started occurring.
The cold didn't even have to be mentioned, my vision was significantly lowered in this blizzard weather, I maybe had a four or five meters I could see in any direction, the only exception was something strange off to the side.
"FUCK" The words escaped my lips as my foothold crumbled and my hand slipped. I tumbled down, hitting several rocks before landing on a small, protruded edge that allowed me to regain my hold.
Blood ran down the corner of my lips, I felt my throat full of the stuff.
I hit that ledge hard, and the fall wasn't exactly soft. Sucking in a cold breath of air, I steadied my legs and grabbed onto another jagged edge to pull myself up again.
How many feet did I reclimb? Everything looked the same and my vision was heavily impaired. I think the only valid measurement of distance was the fact that I was getting noticeably colder the higher I went. Which, you may expect, climbing a mountain, but this was 'noticeably' colder, as in every few feet it dropped a couple degrees.
I don't think I even got far, practically impossible to measure actual distance, when I heard a sound above me, things were falling down, smacking against the cliff and coming right towards me.
As quickly as I could, I stabbed my sword into the mountain as hard as I could and grabbed onto it, ducking my head under my arms.
Rocks fell down on me, some merely hurt, intent to leave bruises, others sliced open my skin on their descent. Luckily, none managed to hit my head, less my skull take a beating.
When the last boulders and rocks finally passed, I only climbed a few more feet until I saw a familiar sight. The strange thing that caught my attention before I fell the first time.
I saw a castle, completely upside down. It was perhaps, the source of those stones from earlier. Did it exist in a state of perpetual falling? Such a thing goes against the logic of humanity, but here that can be true.
If it was 'always' falling, that meant as soon as something 'disturbed' its stasis, the momentum would carry it downwards, like those rocks. No wonder they buried themselves so deep, perhaps there was a ceiling on their velocity, but I did not want to test that.
My breathing was becoming too ragged, I didn't dwell on it. The only solace was that I found a 'tree' jetting out of a small cliff nearby that I could sit down and rest.
I took out some word and some pieces of scrap metal. I hit my sword against the scraps, trying to light up some tinder I bundled together.
"Come on." My hands shook slightly, I was freezing, and a little fire would do me good. "Just a little spark, please." I whispered.
I continued until my fingers became numb, nothing. I couldn't get a single ember to appear.
A sudden urge to throw my sword off the cliff appeared, but I quickly squashed it down. No point in torturing myself more than this place is already doing.
There were thoughts in the back of my head, little whispers telling me to just go back down and continue with what I was doing before.
Fuck this mountain.
I stood up, feet a little wobbly. I took my sword in both hands and began to swing it again. The same rhythmic movements that I have spent the past couple months mastering. It was soothing, perhaps even a little warm in its familiarity. It allowed me to just ever so slightly take my mind off this biting cold.
***
My eyes slowly opened, ice literally falling off my eyelashes as I moved them. I had somehow managed to catch a few hours of sleep in this god forsaken weather.
I can only thank the remnants of my devil physiology that I didn't freeze to death. Even with most everything being sealed away, there were some things just inherit to my physical body. I'm not even sure how she went about 'sealing' some of my racial abilities, perhaps she more so 'shackled' certain aspect of my physiology in addition to my source of magical energy?
I wouldn't die of hypothermia…. probably. And I don't think any of my body parts would be frozen.
The snowstorm did die down, a little bit. I could see maybe a few more feet infront of me now, small mercies.
Wait…I abruptly turned my head and looked at the tree that was providing me with some manner of shelter.
I reached up to grab something hanging off on a small string. "Teacher?" I whispered lightly, holding a piece of flint in my hand.
I cradled the small object like it was the most precious treasure, I gathered my stuff back up again and struck my sword against the small piece of flint. It was much easier to light a fire now, a quick strike of my sword and sparks flew, turning into little embers.
These pieces of scraps I've kept dry all this time, and some tinder I found at the base of the mountain.
Warmth.
The tree hanging over head blocked most of the snow fall, allowing my little fire to persist through this deathly air.
I needed this, it filled me with resolve to Keep going, that's all I could do right now. I would stay here for a bit longer and warm up then continue on. Maybe another day or so, to allow this fire to run its course. How likely was I to find another little area like this to take another break?
Cooking a potato over the fire, I allowed myself to enjoy this little prize. But all good things couldn't continue, I noticed the storms starting to pick up again and I didn't know if I should continue staying here for longer or not.
Almost as if the world to give me a boot, a large swath of cold air blew in from the side, completely enveloping the fire and snuffing it out with an overlay of snow.
Fuck this mountain.
I wanted to rant and rave, but I couldn't even find the energy to do that right now. I slowly grabbed all my stuff once again and searched for another foothold to continue on.
My hands already numb to the pain, I couldn't even feel the sharp rocks anymore. Moments after leaving the safety of my fire, and I couldn't even recall the sensation of warmth.
After a while I think I saw a cloud pass by, how high up was I exactly? Did the 'sky' even have the same concept here as I was used to?
I don't know how long I continued forward, my stamina was starting to deplete until I rolled up onto a protruding cliff, able to sit down and rest for a moment.
How long did I continue to climb after this?
My memories started to blur together and I caught myself almost stumbling off the side of the cliff. I could recall skirting alongside the cliff side, barely enough room to stand on, a very large and strange mushroom that I avoided, and even what appeared to be fish, flying through the air.
Wait, did I imagine that last one….? Did it not sing me a song as it passed by?
"Will~" I heard a voice, and I looked up to see what looked like Meridia waving her legs over the side of the cliff.
….what?
Am I really that far gone or is something else going on? I'm pretty sure I haven't crossed into crazy territory yet.
Perhaps I would have continued this question, had the figure not dispersed into a strange mist.
I think this mountain was doing something to my consciousness, or rather something here was messing with me. Well, I just had to ignore it for now.
Looking up, I couldn't find a good vantage point to keep going. It seemed as though I would need to find another way. My eyes darted everywhere and I noticed a small chasm to the side, the opposite end looked to be a decent place to continue upwards.
I walked up, wiping away the copious amounts of snow at the ledge, getting an idea of the distance and taking a few steps back to get a running start.
Leaping across, I managed to get most of my body on the ledge, able to slowly pull myself up after finding a good place to grab.
"Wilhelm." Another voice grabbed my attention. I saw Artoria squatting down, offering her hand.
Perhaps it was a moment of weakness, because I reached out instinctively, only for my hand to go through hers and she dispersed into more mist.
"Fuck" I shouted, sliding down, almost falling off the side of the cliff. My foot managed to stop on a good foothold so I didn't fall down. With more strength than I wanted to muster, I was able to pull myself up and over, rolling on my back as I peered over the edge.
"Stupid, stupid." I whispered to myself.
What the hell was going on? Was something raiding my memories or was I projecting my own towards whatever source was fucking with me?
This kept going on, Days, weeks? I think time began to lose meaning to me, the only semblance of the passage of time was me running low on food.
"Oh, it's Teacher this time." I muttered, seeing a clearly fake Scathach trying to lure me somewhere. Seriously, who would fall for this…..again.
"Maybe put you're a-game into it next time?' I threw a rock at the little mirage, the illusion that seemed to emanate out of this mountain. I rolled my eyes as it burst into mist again, only for it to reemerge back into her form.
I just sighed, deciding to ignore whatever was going on. If it could physically affect me, it probably would have by n –
"Oh my." I did a double take as this time the illusion started to strip. "Okay, bonus points here." I gave it a shaky thumbs up, as it tried to get me to follow it in a specific direction. I did take a few moments to just watch. "Nice, I wonder how accurate that is compared to the real thing." I nodded.
Huh, if I stick around long enough, will it try to do this looking like Meridia? It would be a lie to say that I didn't enjoy it when her image showed up….it had been quite a while since I've seen her.
Truly, this thing is a formidable opponent.
This little distraction did help relieve a small amount of mental fatigue, but my body was reaching its limit.
I was exhausted, I don't know how much longer I could keep going, the only thing that kept me moving was the fact that I could see the top of the peek from here.
Roughly 400 meters, if I eyed that correctly. The snow storms seemed almost completely gone here.
I could do it, I could do this.
Was it getting harder as I got closer or was, I just imagining it? It was almost like a dream, each foot up I took, I don't even remember doing it, but I saw the top coming closer and closer into view.
"Will, come with me?" Meridia looked at me coquettishly, her familiar dress drooping slightly past her shoulder.
"You better pray I don't find you later." I growled, throwing a rock through the illusion. As much as I would like to see that scene…..for some reason I'm actually pissed off that Meridia was being used like that.
300 meters.
"Wil, stay with me or I'll jump off." Meridia once again appeared at the edge of the cliff.
I just blinked, looking at 'it'. "Seriously? You really don't have any idea who that is then? Just borrowing the image from my subconscious? If she were truly here, this entire realm would tremble with each of her steps." I don't know why I wasted the breath saying this, but the look the 'illusion' gave me was satisfying.
A hint of annoyance on her face before dispersing.
"A little more." I spoke even at the cost of my dwindling energy.
200 meters.
The stones I gripped were pulled out, maybe I would have been fine, but I saw the illusion of Meridia killing Artoria making me tumble a way back down in my very brief distraction. My arms got cut up from the jagged protrusions, but I was able to stop myself from falling further.
Maybe my anger was now fueling me, I think I climbed back up faster than the first time.
100 meters.
I no longer had any feeling in my arms. I looked around, but I saw nothing, so I kept going.
50 meters.
Coming to the final cliff, I almost fell down again as my footing crumbled, grabbing tight I hefted myself up, pushing over the edge and rolling onto the top.
There was something there, I could almost roll my eyes, but my energy was lacking right now. I pulled myself up not recognizing the lower half of the figure, only to pause when I saw its face.
"You." I said quietly, my body trembling.
A man with a familiar shade of hair, I almost ran a hand through my own out of instinct. My shaking hands forcibly curled into fists.
My father.
Sirzechs Lucifer.
"Why don't you come back with me?" He gave a disarming smile. "We can be a family."
"No." I said calming down., much to the Thing's annoyance. An audible frown on its face due to my lack of reaction. "Do you expect me to lash out? Or maybe jump with joy at your words? Even if you were real, I'm not that little child living by himself anymore."
Was I still angry at him? Sure, I think anyone in my situation would hold onto some anger. But I'm not going to dictate any more than that towards this person, to actively hate someone requires effort, he is not worth it.
I took a step forward. "Neither you nor the person you imitate has any control over me." I flicked the illusion, watching it disappear for the last time. "You are irrelevant."
Good riddance.
There was a small path up to the actual peak, the 'climbing' was more so heaving my tired body up some stone cliffsides.
"I did it." I said quietly, falling to the ground, barely sitting up and taking in the view from the top.
"You did." Another voice answered.
I looked over to see Scathach standing next to me. "You've been watching me the entire time."
"Mmm, you did good." She nodded. "I didn't think you would realize your own faults early on, I was planning on having you fight your way up a large portion of the mountain. Perhaps set some stronger variants at certain locations to provide walls you had to work to break down. But it wasn't needed in the end." She shook her head with a small smile.
"You set the undead there?" I tilted my head. That made an alarming amount of sense.
"Of course." She said plainly.
"What about those illusions?"
"Remnants of something that I sealed here long ago, something that is neither living nor dead, yet still clings onto a chance at life by consuming the essence of anything it can get its hands on."
"What was the point of this?" I tried to wave my arms around, but I just collapsed onto the ground.
"You needed to suffer." She replied without a hint of remorse.
"Ah, so you're a sadist."
She walked up to my, lightly tapping the butt of her spear on my forehead. "If I wasn't pleased with your progress, I would have smacked you for that." She frowned slightly. "The dragon spoke of me at length of your issues, I agreed with him after some deliberation. You have never 'suffered' before, nor have you ever needed to. Some battles may have pushed you to your limits, but it is not the same."
"I never swung my sword until my arms hurt, I never cast my spells until my voice was hoarse. I never truly trained in any capacity."
"You understand." She looked pleased. "You were arrogant because of what you inherited, thinking never to push beyond your own limits. You had never truly suffered before. I have never had a student with your particular situation, I needed to devise a new strategy."
"Does that mean you'll unseal my power?" I asked.
"Mmm, it would be pointless to keep you from utilizing your strengths any longer. We shall begin your true training tomorrow, for now though." She placed her hand on my forehead. "Rest, you have earned a small reprieve."
My eyes closed, involuntarily and I welcomed the darkness.
***
Here's chapter 49, and if you want to read 5 chapters ahead or just support me, visit my Pat reon.com/AstoryForone